Oration delivered at Liam Lynch Commemoration, 21/07/2019

It is an incredible honour to have been invited by the National Liam Lynch Commemoration Committee to speak before you today. In his resistance to British rule in Ireland, General Liam Lynch has left an important legacy for all the Irish people, a revolutionary career that displayed great dedication, idealism and heroism. Republicans of every generation have paid tribute to him on this spot since the bitter Civil War, or rather, what I prefer to call the Counter-Revolution of 1922-23. It is right and fitting that we continue to pay tribute and honour a giant of the Republican movement such as Liam Lynch. In 1935, before a crowd of thousands, Lynch's former comrade, Maurice Twomey, unveiled the tower dedicated to Liam Lynch that we stand in the shadow of today. Twomey had served alongside Lynch in the ranks of Óglaigh na hÉireann during the days of the Tan War and was later on his staff, during the Civil War. By 1935, Twomey himself had risen to Chief-of-Staff of the IRA,